Eyeing the Half-Shekel giving that enables national-census taking, we see Moses being shown a fiery coin; begging the obvious question: why the superfluous visual aid? A full investigation of this conundrum leads us into a passionate place of parallel per...

An examination of Rashi’s commentary on contributing a half shekel and a closer look at some discrepancies between our printed version of Rashi and an ancient manuscript housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

In the Book of Exodus, the Jewish people are instructed to contribute a half-shekel coin towards the building of the tabernacle as “atonement for their souls,” and the commentaries explain that it atoned for the grievous sin of the golden calf.

The introduction of a well-documented, but little-known new beginning on the Jewish calendar serves to place this unique Torah Reading in its proper context. Once establishing its origins in the Temple eras of antiquity, we move on to analyse its function...